


Hands Off

by TheWriterinFlannel



Series: ThorBruce Week 2018 [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony ships it, soft angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 02:44:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15596484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWriterinFlannel/pseuds/TheWriterinFlannel
Summary: Day 4 of the ThorBruce Week of 2018! Enjoy!!!Today's theme is Touching. This fic takes place a bit after At The Height of It All.





	Hands Off

Thor has noticed that Banner always looks like a scared puppy when someone touches him. The small man curls in on himself; his voice gets quiet and he seems to lose his confidence. It usually happens around Steven, Colonel James, Nicholas Fury, and even Lady Pepper. Even when Stark gets just a bit too loud, Thor sees Banner duck down just a bit more.

From that first realization. Thor makes sure that he’s more careful with Banner. He tries to keep his voice down, doesn’t barge into the lab anymore, and above all, Thor tries his best not to get infiltrate Banner’s personal space. Tony, obviously curious about Thor’s change in behavior, jokes about Thor losing his “thunder” instead of actually asking a question. Thor now knows that Tony is watching him.

Over the next couple of days, Tony began to start random conversations with Thor, always starting with Bruce. Because Thor had been trying to keep from scaring his friend, he may have been avoiding the smaller man. So when Tony asked about how Bruce’s day had gone, the god didn't really know how to answer. Thor would always feel guilty afterward, but Tony noticed that he still refused to get close to Bruce again. Tony sat in his lab for a second; he had to find a way to fix this.

 

Bruce isn’t sure what he did wrong, but Thor is avoiding him. Bruce assumed the meeting with Pepper may have been the cause of it. Pepper had come over, towering over him in her “fuck you” heels and a crisp pencil skirt, and given the scientist specific instructions for the press conference he was to have alongside Thor: “Don’t let Thor go on tangents about Asgard” and “Don’t talk about science, they don’t understand it” and lastly, “Please don’t look like you’re being held captive, Bruce. Smile for once.”

Bruce hadn’t taken much offense to the last statement — he had always had a hard time breaking out of his shell and talking to the press — and he wasn’t really scared of Pepper, but Bruce still ducked down when Pepper got too close. The scientist could see Thor watching the entire interaction, marking it off as Thor being Thor. But soon after that, Bruce noticed how distant Thor was being. The two had gone from constant casual and reassuring touches to virtually zero unprompted interactions.

The smaller man tried to come up with reasons why Thor would be avoiding him but fell short every time. That’s what lead Bruce to Tony. He was sitting in Tony’s office, just ranting about how he felt. “I, I just-,” Bruce stuttered out, “I’m so used to him always being around; it was almost like he became some sort of fail-safe for me.”

As his best friend continued to rant, Tony did the most Tony thing he could do; he began to live stream the audio of Bruce’s rant straight to Thor’s quarters. Tony had checked to make sure Thor was in his room of course; he wanted to ensure that he his plan would work.

 

Thor couldn’t move from the edge of his bed. In his efforts to make Bruce feel happy and safe, Thor had done the opposite. According to Bruce, Thor avoiding him caused the genius to feel on-edge and unprotected. The giant man ran a hand through his hair. This is not what he had wanted; this wasn’t correct.

The next morning, Thor did something he hadn’t done in almost two weeks; he barged into Bruce’s lab and bellowed out a hardy “Good Morning.” The smile on Bruce’s face out shown every last star Thor has seen the night before. Bruce gladly waved at Thor, beckoning him over. “May I ask what project you are working on today, banner?” “Ask away!” Thor motioned for Bruce to start talking before placing his hands on Bruce’s waist and his chin on Bruce’s shoulder. The god couldn’t help but hum as Bruce dove into a complicated explanation of his agenda.

This felt right.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [my tumblr](thewriterinflannel.tumblr.com) or just send me a request


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